WHY I THINK LAVE CROSS SHOULD BE IN COOPERSTOWN
By- Damien
Lave Cross was a remarkably inconsistent player who had seasonal averages as high as .387 and as low as .256. His overall average was .292, and he collected 2,651 hits along with more than 300 career stolen bases, making him a pretty good candidate for his offensive contributions alone. He was also a supremely talented defensive third baseman who had an overall career fielding percentage an astounding 30 points above the league average. He set the single season record for fielding at third base in both 1895 and 1899. Lave Cross started his career with the AA Louisville Colonels in 1887, batting .266 across 54 games as the team catcher. Though he was primarily a third baseman, Cross ended up catching 324 games across his 21 big league seasons. He had two poor seasons after that but hit .298 in 1890 for the Philadelphia Athletics. Cross topped the .300 mark for the first time in 1891 and batted .299 two years later. He had his best MLB season in 1894, batting .387 with 132 RBI’s for the Phillies in 122 games. In 1894 and 1895, he drove in a combined 233 runs in 247 games, which averages out to an amazing 153 RBI’s in a modern 162 game season. Cross recorded two sub-.260 averages in the following two seasons, but batted .317 in 1898 at the age of 32. He enjoyed a very late peak, batting a combined .308 from 1898 through 1904, but hit a decline in 1905. He still topped the .260 mark in 1905 and 1906 but was finished by 1907 when, in 41 games for the Washington Senators, he batted .199. He was released by the club that season, never to play in another MLB game. Lave Cross was a very good hitter, a fantastic fielder, and a skilled baseruner. He basically was the Brooks Robinson of his time, and Robinson was rightly regarded as a slam dunk Hall of Famer. Why not Cross?
LIFETIME STATISTICS
Games career: 2,277 season high: 155 in 1904
At Bats career: 9,084 season high: 607 in 1904
Hits career: 2,651 season high: 210 in 1894
Doubles career: 411 season high: 39 in 1902
Triples career: 136 season high: 14 in 1891
Home Runs career: 47 season high: 7 in 1894
Runs career: 1,338 season high: 128 in 1894
Runs Batted In career: 1,378 season high: 132 in 1894
Stolen Bases career: 303 season high: 25 in 1902
Walks career: 466 season high: 39 in 1892
Strikeouts career: 217 season high: 23 in 1891
Batting Average career: .292 season high: .387 in 1894
On Base Percentage career: .329 season high: .424 in 1894
Slugging Percentage career: .383 season high: .526 in 1894
Total Bases career: 3,475 season high: 285 in 1894
Sacrifice Hits career: 160 season high: 17 in 1894 (Cross’s sacrifice hit numbers from before 1894 are unavailable)
Fielding Percentage career: .937 season high: .959 in 1899 led NL 3B: .940 in 1895, .945 in 1898 and 1900, .959 in 1899, .952 in 1906
Double Plays career: 315 season high: 32 in 1899 led NL 3B: 24 in 1894, 32 in 1899
Putouts career: 4,262 season high: 297 in 1891
Assists career: 4,553 season high: 358 in 1898 and 1899 led NL 3B: 308 in 1895, 351 in 1898
DID YOU KNOW?
-brother of Amos and Frank Cross
-often wore a catchers’ mitt in the field, as per the rules at the time
-went 1-for-4 with two RBI’s in his final MLB game
-hit for the cycle on April 24, 1894
-set the MLB record with 15 assists at second base on August 5, 1897
-his 108 RBI’s without a home run in 1902 set the MLB record
-had a .364 career caught stealing percentage as a catcher
-led the NL in at bats per strikeout in 1902 (139.8, the franchise record) and 1904 (67.4), and 1905 (48.9), and his career mark of 41.9 is the sixth highest of all time
-played in 447 consecutive games from April 23, 1902 through May 8, 1905
-hit two home runs off of Hall of Famer Cy Young and one each off of Addie Joss, John Clarkson, Bill Dinneen, Jack Taylor, and Matt Kilroy
-ranks 38th in career singles (2,057)
-led NL third basemen in games in 1902 (137), 1903 (136), and 1905 (147)
-captained the Philadelphia Athletics when they won two of the first five AL pennants
-retired with the highest fielding percentage (.938) among third basemen and with the most games (1,721), putouts (2,306), assists (3,706), and total chances (6,406) at third base
-among MLB third basemen, ranks 25th in career games, fourth in putouts, and 16th in assists
-also played seven games at first base, 60 at second base, 65 at shortstop, 13 in leftfield, 34 in centerfield, and 71 in rightfield
-went 8-30 as the manager of the 1899 Cleveland Spiders, maybe the worst team in MLB history
I know some writers who think Lave Cross should be in the Hall, though I personally am unconvinced. He was about average as a fielder, and though a very good fielder, not Brooks Robinson.
ReplyDeleteInteresting point on his inconsistency- I'd never noticed that. When I read that I thought it was probably just because of the difference in the high hittin' 90s and the early dead ball era, but actually those seasons were just two years apart. Very odd.